Poverty and precarity Books

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Book SynopsisDeals with the underworld of society. In this book, the author documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris' vile 'Hotel X', surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and more.

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Book SynopsisSendhil Mullainathan, the ''most interesting young economist in the world'', and Eldar Shafir, the ''most brilliant psychologist'' of his generation, explain the hidden problem behind everything with ScarcityWhy can we never seem to keep on top of our workload, social diary or chores? Why does poverty persist around the world? Why do successful people do things at the last minute in a sudden rush of energy? Here, economist Sendhil Mullainathan and psychologist Eldar Shafir reveal that the hidden side behind all these problems is that they''re all about scarcity. Using the new science of scarcity, they explain why obesity is rampant; why people find it difficult to sleep when most sleep deprived; and why the lonely find it so hard to make friends. Scarcity will change the way you think about both the little everyday tasks and the big issues of global urgency.''Stars in their respective disciplines, and the combination is greater than the sum of its parts. Their project has a unique feel to it: it is the finest combination of heart and head that I have seen in our field'' - Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow''Scarcity is a captivating book, overflowing with new ideas, fantastic stories, and simple suggestions that just might change the way you live'' - Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics''An ultimately humane and very welcome book'' - Oliver Burkeman, Guardian Sendhil Mullainathan is a Professor of Economics at Harvard, and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. He conducts research on development economics, behavioural economics, and corporate finance. He is Executive Director of Ideas 42, Institute of Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University.Eldar Shafir is William Stewart Tod Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Most of his work focuses on descriptive analyses of inference, judgment, and decision making, and on issues related to behavioural economics.Trade ReviewStars in their respective disciplines, and the combination is greater than the sum of its parts. Their project has a unique feel to it: it is the finest combination of heart and head that I have seen in our field -- Daniel Kahneman, author of 'Thinking, Fast and Slow'Scarcity is a captivating book, overflowing with new ideas, fantastic stories, and simple suggestions that just might change the way you live -- Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of 'Freakonomics'Here is a winning recipe. Take a behavioral economist and a cognitive psychologist, each a prominent leader in his field, and let their creative minds commingle. What you get is a highly original and easily readable book that is full of intriguing insights. What does a single mom trying to make partner at a major law firm have in common with a peasant who spends half her income on interest payments? The answer is scarcity. Read this book to learn the surprising ways in which scarcity affects us all -- Richard Thaler, co-author of 'Nudge'An ultimately humane and very welcome book -- Oliver Burkeman * Guardian *The book's unified theory of the scarcity mentality is novel in its scope and ambition * The Economist *A succinct, digestible and often delightfully witty introduction to an important new branch of economics -- Felix Martin * New Statesman *A pacey dissection of a potentially life-changing subject * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisWhat and who is a city for?

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.If there is one man to whom I do feel myself inferior, it is a coalminer.In the mid-1930s, George Orwell was given an assignment from his publisher to write a book about unemployment and social conditions in the economically depressed north of England. Revolutionary for its time, The Road to Wigan Pier documents Orwell's stint in towns likes Barnsley, Sheffield and Wigan in 1936, where he met and observed working-class people living in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire.Orwell graphically and emphatically describes the hardships of ordinary people living in cramped slum housing, working in dangerous mines and growing hungry through malnutrition and social injustice. It is an honest, gripping and humane study that also looks at socialism as a solution to the problems facing working-class northerners something many readers at the time were uncomfortable discussing.The Road

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTIONChosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman, Financial Times, Guardian, Observer, Rough Trade and the BBCShortlisted for the Rathbones Folio PrizeLonglisted for the Jhalak Prize''Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautiful ... a landmark debut'' Guardian''Oh my God, he''s just stirring me. Destroying me'' Michaela Coel''A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy'' Max Porter''Takes us into new literary territory ... impressive'' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman (Books of the Year)''It''s simply stunning. Every image is a revelation'' Terrance HayesWhat is it like to grow up in a place where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because ''you fit the description of a man'' - and where it is possiTrade ReviewTakes us into new literary territory ... impressive -- Bernardine Evaristo * New Statesman (Books of the Year) *It's rare for a book of poems to repeatedly leave you breathless when reading it. Such is the urgent brilliance of Caleb Femi's Poor . . . Femi's language is restlessly inventive, unerring in uncovering images that lodge in your memory. His use of concrete as a recurring motif is brutally graceful, encapsulating this startlingly beautiful book, a landmark debut for British poetry -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian *I am reading a powerful book of poetry by a young man, Caleb Femi. Oh my God, he has a book called Poor and he's just stirring me. Destroying me. I look up to him as a poet -- Michaela CoelCaleb Femi is a gift to us all from the storytelling gods. He is a poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy. But above all, this is love poetry. Love of community, language, music and form. This book flows from the fabric of boyhood to the politics and architecture of agony, from the material to the spiritual, always moving, always real. Poor is the heartbeat of a living city which truly knows itself. Caleb is a mighty and positive force in UK culture and this is a vital book -- Max Porter, author of LannyIn this fabulous debut, concrete becomes a paradox of toughness and vulnerability, confinement and shelter . . . Caleb Femi's riveting photographs and compassionate yet hard-hitting lines map North Peckham's black boys and blocks . . . His depictions of young black men possess a brother's empathy . . . It's simply stunning. Every image is a revelation -- Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future AssassinMesmerizing and transporting. I've never read a collection like this . . . I literally had to shake off the experience once I was finished. [This] incredible collection . . . gives voice to a London many would prefer to ignore . . . I don't think it possible for anyone to come away from this book without having developed new levels of empathy and compassion -- Derek Owusu, author of That Reminds MeImpressive . . . At the heart of the collection is the poet's deconstruction of language, fusing biblical cadence with a contemporary street vernacular. There is something reminiscent of William Blake's visionary poetic in Femi's commitment to a realistic worship for places like Aylesbury Estate and North Peckham, as well as their communities . . . [recalls] Gwendolyn Brooks's and Nate Marshall's odes to Chicago . . . [Poor is] in conversation with Roger Robinson's and Jay Bernard's poems of witness and poetic gospel, which . . . create myths, legends, and folklore that render black bodies as holy -- Malika Booker, author of Pepper SeedCaleb Femi's Poor bristles with the exhilarations and violences of boyhood and adolescence. In its interplay of image and text, of photographic image and poetic image, the book asks us to consider what is seen and unseen, spoken of and concealed; what is, in one of many numinous phrases, "proof of light". More than this, these are poems of witness, both noun and verb: poems of the self and what the self can bear -- Stephen Sexton, author of If All the World and Love Were YoungGiving a mythic resonance to communal life, the poems in Caleb Femi's Poor are vital, confronting and electric. Political, spiritual, formally inventive and energized by a music of protest and grief, this is a rare and anthemic debut -- Seán Hewitt, author of Tongues of FireAn urban romantic . . . powerful * Dazed & Confused *Caleb's talent calls for a global stage -- Virgil Abloh

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Book SynopsisThe Road to Wigan Pier is a book in two parts: the first half is Orwell’s description of working-class life in industrial communities of the north of England, the second examines his own political views.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by journalist and author Amelia Gentleman.The Road to Wigan Pier is an insightful and powerful account of lives lived in poverty and deprivation in a time of low wages and meagre government support. Orwell describes dismal housing (including the lodging house where he stays), harsh working conditions and the devastating effects of unemployment. And he also vividly describes the courage and dignity of the people he meets. In the second half of the book, Orwell examines his own political and social affiliations with an impressive ability to provoke and to question. He defends middle-class values whilst critiquing the failures of his own class, he advocates socialism whilst criticizing the socialist movement in England.Trade ReviewWith absolute confidence, after several false starts, the mature George Orwell takes charge of this idiosyncratic account of working-class life from his first page. -- Robert McCrum, '100 best nonfiction books of all time' * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis***WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023***'Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.' Rowan Moore,Observer Book of the WeekOn 14 June 2017, a 24-storey block of flats went up in flames. The fire climbed up cladding as flammable as solid petrol. Fire doors failed to self-close. No alarm rang out to warn sleeping residents. As smoke seeped into their homes, all were told to stay put'. Many did and they died. It was a tragedy decades in the making. Peter Apps meticulously exposes how a steady stream of deregulation, corporate greed and institutional indifference caused a tragedy. 72 people did not need to die, as the Grenfell Tower Inquiry makes clear. Here is the story of a grieving community forsaken by our government, a community still waiting for justice.Trade Review'Show Me the Bodies is a clear, moving and powerful account of Britain’s worst fire since the second world war, written by someone who knows what he’s talking about… Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did.' —Rowan Moore, Observer Book of the Week'Show Me the Bodies will never leave the mind of anyone who reads it. The tragedy is that those who should read it probably won’t.' —Guardian'A searing indictment of the construction industry and regulators… The book that follows reads like a prosecution, meticulous and fierce.' —The Times'A meticulous study of the Grenfell disaster and subsequent inquiry… a powerful reminder that management is not just about managing resources but managing people’s lives.' —Martha Lane Fox, The Sunday Times'A jaw-dropping account of a callous system that swept individual conscience aside in favour of profit and politics. It is hard to convey how moving and enraging the book is — I urge you to read it for yourself. Because one thing almost all of us have been guilty of since the worst disaster in the UK this century is complacency.' —Evening Standard'At first, it was easy to write about Grenfell… Soon, it was dizzyingly hard: a web of technical intricacy, overlapping safety codes and multisyllabic plastic types – all against the fraught backdrop of a police investigation and judge-led inquiry. In his insistence on weaving through such legal pitfalls, Apps stands almost alone… He is one of the only writers beyond the west London community to chronicle the joys of living in Grenfell Tower… A forensic examination of how building regulations and corporate safety standards have been watered down since Margaret Thatcher’s deregulation bonanza.' —New Statesman, Book of the Day'Apps writes that Grenfell “tells us something about… the priority our political and economic system places on human life—especially when those lives are likely to be poor, immigrant and from ethnic minority backgrounds.” He has done their stories justice with this urgent book.' —Prospect'However painful the story of Grenfell is, it is one we must hear. Apps' powerful testament tells us how injustice was manifested and how lessons still fail to be learned.' —David Lammy MP'For the last few years, Peter Apps has been writing the most important reportage on the most important disaster in this country since Hillsborough. Here, he makes clear how this atrocity was easily preventable. Show Me the Bodies also reveals just how little those responsible, from the construction industry to the government, have learned. Whatever the courts eventually decide, this book deserves to be widely read so that the rest of us can finally hold them to account.' —Owen Hatherley, author of The Ministry of Nostalgia'Show Me the Bodies is a staggering achievement, both a testament to the victims, the bereaved and the community of Grenfell and a painstaking, forensic investigation into the causes of the crime itself. Yet it is also an unflinching portrait of UKplc: a divided, deregulated, privatized and neglected kingdom where profit for the few always triumphs over the health, safety and lives of the many, where the victims are always left voiceless, and where the dead never find justice or peace. And where, most damningly of all, we still choose not to act and so still let crimes such as Grenfell happen, over and over, again and again. In short, this is the most harrowing, moving, powerful and important book of the year, and one which every citizen should read. And remember. And learn from and then act upon.' David Peace, author of the Red Riding Quartet'Enormously important… A painstaking chronicle of an entirely avoidable tragedy, its aftermath and its causes.' —James O'Brien, LBC'A harrowing account of the fire itself and a searing indictment of the society that allowed it to happen.' —Financial Times‘Compelling, rigorous, utterly forensic and so very needed. This book has to be the moment that things change.' —Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles'Working from painstaking daily reporting from the inquiry, alongside extensive interviews with the bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell atrocity, Apps has written a concise, devastatingly detailed and upsetting book. This should be a required text for anyone involved in the built environment. From architects to politicians, all decision makers should read Show Me the Bodies. Then effect change.' —Emma Dent Coad, former MP for Kensington'The most powerful book I have read in years. Compassionate, forensic, heart breaking and enraging on almost every single page.' —Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Fein T.D. for Dub Mid-West'This book is a vital work of public service. Peter Apps has shown the care, humanity and attention to detail that were lethally lacking among those with the power and responsibility to keep the residents of Grenfell safe. We cannot afford to ignore its lessons.' —Lynsey Hanley, author of Estates'Peter Apps has written a searing indictment of what he rightly calls "the most serious crime committed on British soil this century" in this forensic account of the deregulation, cost-cutting and sheer negligence behind the Grenfell fire and its human cost. It’s essential reading if we are to avoid such needless tragedy in the future.' —John Boughton, author of Municipal Dreams

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEAR''I couldn''t put it down. . . an important book, raw and simple enough that you can''t help but feel it deeply'' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd''s LifeTalented and ambitious, Monica Potts and her best friend, Darci, were both determined to make something of themselves. How did their lives turn out so different? Growing up gifted and working-class in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. Bonding over a shared love of learning, they pored over the giant map in their classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape their broken town. In the end, Monica left Clinton for university and fulfilled her dreams. Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not. Years later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Monica discovers what she already intuitively knew about the

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell's searing account of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over timeOrwell's graphically unforgettable descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment are written with unblinking honesty, fury and great humanity. It crystallized the ideas that would be found in his later works and novels, and remains a powerful portrait of poverty, injustice and class divisions in Britain.Includes illustrations, explanatory footnotes, and an introduction by Richard Hoggart

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Book Synopsis"It is all free fighting here. Even some of the windows do not open, so it is useless to cry for help. Dampness and misery, violence and wrong, have left their handwriting in perfectly legible characters on the walls."(Manchester Guardian, 1870.)Step into the Victorian underworld of Angel Meadow, the vilest and most dangerous slum of the Industrial Revolution. In the shadow of the world's first cotton mill, 30,000 souls trapped by poverty are fighting for survival as the British Empire is built upon their backs.Thieves and prostitutes keep company with rats in overcrowded lodging houses and deep cellars on the banks of a black river, the Irk. Gangs of 'scuttlers' stalk the streets in pointed, brass-tripped clogs. Those who evade their clutches are hunted down by cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis. Lawless drinking dens and a cold slab in the dead house provide the only relief from this filthy and frightening world.In this shocking book, journalist Dean Kirby takes readers on a hair-raising journey through the alleyways, gin palaces and underground vaults of this nineteenth century Manchester slum, which was considered so diabolical it was re-christened 'hell upon earth' by Friedrich Engels. Enter Angel Meadow if you dare...Trade Review"Dean Kirby manages to provide visual imagery that is vivid and it is chilling. The sense of sadness which waves through you as you read this book knowing that this is not fiction is heavily felt. As is sympathy for the Victorian people, families and children who lived and died in these conditions within one of the most prosperous cities in England. If you are interested in British history, it's criminal past and the Victorian era this will be a satisfying and educational read."--Crime Traveller

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Book SynopsisMillions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. Leaving her home, she took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity? exposing the darker side of American prosperity and the true cost of the American dream.Trade Review'An extraordinary achievement...surely one of the most gripping political books ever written' - Observer'A valuable and illuminating book...Barbara Ehrenreich is now our premier reporter of the underside of capitalism' - New York Times

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Book SynopsisNow a major new stage work ''Punch'' by James Graham, at London''s Young Vic theatre 1 March to 12 April 2025????? The Times????? What''s On Stage???? Guardian???? Telegraph???? Financial Times???? The StageIn 2011 Jacob Dunne threw a single punch that ended another man's life. Sentenced to prison for manslaughter, he served fourteen months of a custodial sentence. On his release, he found himself homeless, unemployed and struggling to find a sense of purpose. But with the help of others, and with the encouragement of his victim's parents, he managed to get his life back on track.Right From Wrong follows the course of Jacob's life, beginning on a council estate in Nottingham. Beset by problems at home and at school, Jacob drifted into drug-related gang culture, drinking heavily and fighting for fun before a fateful night changed the course of his life. Unflinching in its account of Jacob's guilt and shame, this book will reveal how Jacob used the experience to turn things around. He haTrade Review‘Part mea culpa, part love letter to his mother, and part manifesto on how to help children from difficult backgrounds to avoid the lifestyle he led. At its heart is the theme of restorative justice.’ The Guardian ‘Engaging… Dunne argues cogently, coherently and from experience that to have choices in life you also have to have chances.’ The Observer, Book of the Day ‘A split second becomes a defining moment for two families and the end of a man’s life. A much-needed burst of light in the dark meadow of time.’ Lemn Sissay, author of My Name is Why ‘A moving and unflinching account of an extraordinary journey. Jacob's astonishing bravery in looking inwards, as well as out towards society and its criminal justice system, is so admirable and beautifully done. It contains that rare thing in story about tragedy – genuine hope.’ James Graham, playwright ‘Captivating and insightful… surprisingly full of hope.’ Nazir Afzal, author of The Prosecutor: One Man’s Pursuit of Justice for the Voiceless ‘A compelling case for restorative justice.’ The Telegraph ‘This powerful and unflinching memoir is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why hurt people hurt people. A must-read for anyone working in the criminal justice system.’ Marina Cantacuzino, founder of The Forgiveness Project Praise for The Punch, the BBC podcast that inspired the book: ‘A devastating listen …. The Punch made you interrogate your idea of shame, and forgiveness.’ Miranda Sawyer, The Guardian ‘Made me cry all day … You feel the beautiful stark pallor of words like forgiveness, and love. Jacob’s self-doubt is powerful too.’ The New Statesman ‘Powerful … exquisite. … A gentle, compelling case for restorative justice’ The Telegraph ‘Showed us how to look harder at ourselves. And to understand why.’ The Times

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Book SynopsisBrutally honest and fearless, Poverty Safari is an unforgettable insight into modern Britain, and will change how you think about poverty.The Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.Winner of the Orwell Prize.Named the most 'Rebellious Read of the 21st Century' in a Scottish Book Trust poll.Darren McGarvey has experienced poverty and its devastating effects first-hand. He knows why people from deprived communities all around Britain feel angry and unheard. And he wants to explain . . .So he invites you to come on a safari of sorts. But not the kind where the wildlife is surveyed from a safe distance. This book takes you inside the experience of poverty to show how the pressures really feel and how hard their legacy is to overcome.Arguing that both the political left and right misunderstand poverty as it is actually lived, McGarvey sets out what everybody – including himself – could do to change things.'Another cry of anger from a working class that feels the pain of a rotten, failing system. Its value lies in the strength it will add to the movement for change.' - Ken Loach, director of KesTrade ReviewPart memoir, part polemic, this is a savage, wise and witty tour-de-force. An unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty, Poverty Safari lays down challenges to both the left and right. It is hard to think of a more timely, powerful or necessary book. -- J.K. RowlingNothing less than an intellectual and spiritual rehab manual for the progressive left. -- Irvine WelshAnother cry of anger from a working class that feels the pain of a rotten, failing system. Its value lies in the strength it will add to the movement for change. -- Ken LoachPoverty Safari is an important and powerful book. -- Nicola SturgeonPoverty Safari documents in vivid, piercing and frequently funny prose, the reality of growing up in Pollok and the consequences of a chaotic family life -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times *By his own account, Darren McGarvey’s first twenty-five years were a real-life version of Trainspotting . . . Poverty Safari [is] a painfully honest autobiographical study of deprivation and how society should deal with it . . . But what has made McGarvey such a particular figure of attention is his political message . . . [McGarvey] seems to offer an antidote to populist anger that transcends left and right . . . his urgently written, articulate and emotional book is a bracing contribution to the debate about how to fix our broken politics. * Financial Times *Poverty Safari is one of the best accounts of working-class life I have read. McGarvey is a rarity: a working-class writer who has fought to make the middle-class world hear what he has to say. -- Nick Cohen * Guardian *If The Road to Wigan Pier had been written by a Wigan miner and not an Etonian rebel, this is what might have been achieved. McGarvey’s book takes you to the heart of what is wrong with the society free market capitalism has created. -- Paul MasonThe man seems to be on his way to becoming one of the most compelling and original voices in Scotland’s, and maybe Britain’s, public debate. If Scotland’s underclass could speak in a single, articulate, authentic voice to communicate to the rest of us what it’s like to be poor, isolated, brutalised, lost, it would sound very much like this. * Scottish Daily Mail *Raw, powerful and challenging. -- Kezia DugdaleA blistering analysis of the issues facing the voiceless and the social mechanisms that hobble progress, all wrapped up in an unput-downable memoir. -- Denise MinaDescribes in unflinching detail the realities of growing up poor in Britain and sets out to challenge the various ways in which poverty is represented in the media and on both sides of the political divide * Guardian *A raw account of his own deprivation and addiction and a powerful political argument. * Guardian *The standout, authentic voice of a generation . . . the world is looking for eloquent voices like McGarvey's to explain things * Herald (Scotland) *Utterly compelling. -- Ian Rankin * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis''This book flips your world upside down. Daniel Markovits argues that meritocracy isn''t a virtuous, efficient system that rewards the best and brightest. Instead it rewards middle-class families who can afford huge investments in their children''s education ... Frightening, eye-opening stuff'' The Times, Books of the Year Even in the midst of runaway economic inequality and dangerous social division, it remains an axiom of modern life that meritocracy reigns supreme and promises to open opportunity to all. The idea that reward should follow ability and effort is so entrenched in our psyche that, even as society divides itself at almost every turn, all sides can be heard repeating meritocratic notions. Meritocracy cuts to the heart of who we think we are.But what if, both up and down the social ladder, meritocracy is a sham? Today, meritocracy has become exactly what it was conceived to resist: a mechanism for the concentration and dynastic transmission of wealth and privilege across generations. Upward mobility has become a fantasy, and the embattled middle classes are now more likely to sink into the working poor than to rise into the professional elite. At the same time, meritocracy now ensnares even those who manage to claw their way to the top, requiring rich adults to work with crushing intensity, exploiting their expensive educations in order to extract a return. All this is not the result of deviations or retreats from meritocracy but rather stems directly from meritocracy''s successes.This is the radical argument that The Meritocracy Trap prosecutes with rare force, comprehensive research, and devastating persuasion. Daniel Markovits, a law professor trained in philosophy and economics, is better placed than most to puncture one of the dominant ideas of our age. Having spent his life at elite universities, he knows from the inside the corrosive system we are trapped within, as well as how we can take the first steps towards a world that might afford us both prosperity and dignity.

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Book Synopsis*WINNER OF THE 2017 PULITZER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION* ''Beautifully written, thought-provoking, and unforgettable ... If you want a good understanding of how the issues that cause poverty are intertwined, you should read this book'' Bill Gates, Best Books of 2017Arleen spends nearly all her money on rent but is kicked out with her kids in Milwaukee''s coldest winter for years. Doreen''s home is so filthy her family call it ''the rat hole''. Lamar, a wheelchair-bound ex-soldier, tries to work his way out of debt for his boys. Scott, a nurse turned addict, lives in a gutted-out trailer. This is their world. And this is the twenty-first century: where fewer and fewer people can afford a simple roof over their head.''Essential. A compelling and damning exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter.'' Owen Jones''If I could require the president to read one book it would be Evicted'' Zadie SmithTrade ReviewAn intimate portrait of what it's like to be powerless in the world's superpower ... Evicted shows how the smallest event can rip through poor lives, sending them spinning out of control... To British eyes, the narrative reads like a dispatch from the near-future. -- Aditya Chakrabortty * Guardian *For the two or three weeks I was reading the book, it formed my topic of conversation with friends, and at night, when I went to sleep, it filled my thoughts ... It makes you aware of how complicated the webs holding you up are. -- Benjamin Markovits * New Statesman *A monumental and vivid study of urban poverty ... Evicted demands attention. It shines a klieg light on a dark corner of the American experience -- Ed Caesar * Sunday Times *Heartbreaking... Desmond's acute observational skills, his facility with reported dialogue and his ability to wrench chaotic stories into clear prose make Evicted a vivid, if sometimes gruelling, read... with UK house prices unaffordable, a dearth of council housing and a Government committed to austerity, Evicted serves as a warning as to what happens when a society refuses to recognise the fundamental human right to shelter -- Keith Kahn-Harris * Independent *A remarkable ethnography ... [Desmond] has a novelist's eye for the telling detail and a keen ear for dialogue ... This is a significant literary achievement, as well as a feat of reporting underpinned by statistical labour -- Jonathan Derbyshire * Financial Times *Astonishing ... Desmond has set a new standard for reporting on poverty -- Barbara Ehrenreich * Herald *An extraordinary ethnographic study... Desmond takes people who are usually seen as worthless, and shows us their full humanity ... By examining one city through the microscopic lens of housing, he shows us how the system that produces that pain and poverty was created and is maintained -- Katha Pollitt * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE MASTER STORYTELLER WHOSE BOOKS HAVE TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF OVER 40 MILLION READERS''Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary'' Cecilia Ahern__________Chika Jeune came into Mitch Albom''s life by chance. Growing up in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 Haiti Earthquake, at three years old she tragically lost her mother and was brought to the orphanage run by Mitch and his wife, Janine. Chika made a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, she delighted those around her. But everything changed when Chika was diagnosed with a terminal disease that no doctor in Haiti could treat. This discovery sparked a two-year, around-the-world journey in search of a cure. As Chika''s boundless optimism and humour taught Mitch the joys of caring for a child, he learned that a relationship built on love can never be lost.__________WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT FINDING CHIKA''A powerful, emotional story'Trade ReviewUplifting . . . Although Finding Chika makes for heart-wrenching reading, it is also a tale of resilience and decency - and the memorable cheerfulness of a dying child * Independent *Heartrending . . . A touching rumination on the magic of children, the extraordinary lengths parents will go for them and the unlikely family that came together across continents * Mail Online *Mitch Albom breaks hearts with his story * Mirror *A heartbreaking story of love, grief and what it really means to be a family * Daily Express *A beautiful, heart-breaking, heart-warming read * My Weekly *

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Book SynopsisNOW A NETFLIX SERIES STARRING MARGARET QUALLEY & ANDY MACDOWELL.BARACK OBAMA''S SUMMER READING PICK, 2019.BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK.Educated meets Nickel and Dimed in Stephanie Land''s memoir about working as a maid. A beautiful and gritty exploration of poverty in the western world. Includes a foreword by international bestelling author Barbara Ehrenreich. ''My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.''As a struggling single mum, determined to keep a roof over her daughter''s head, Stephanie Land worked for years as a maid, working long hours in order to provide for her small family. In Maid, she reveals the dark truth of what it takes to survive and thrive in today''s inequitable society. As she worked hard to climb her way out of poverty as a single parent, scrubbing the toilets of the wealthy, navigTrade Review'What this book does well is illuminate the struggles of poverty and single-motherhood, the unrelenting frustration of having no safety net, the ways in which our society is systemically designed to keep impoverished people mired in poverty, the indignity of poverty by way of unmovable bureaucracy, and people's lousy attitudes toward poor people... Land's prose is vivid and engaging... [A] tightly-focused, well-written memoir... an incredibly worthwhile read.'ROXANE GAY, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger: A Memoir'Marry the evocative first-person narrative of Educated with the kind of social criticism seen in Nickel and Dimed and you'll get a sense of the remarkable book you hold in your hands. In Maid, Stephanie Land, a gifted storyteller with an eye for details you'll never forget, exposes what it's like to exist in America as a single mother, working herself sick cleaning our dirty toilets, one missed paycheck away from destitution. It's a perspective we seldom see represented first hand - and one we so desperately need right now. Timely, urgent, and unforgettable, this is memoir at its very best."SUSANNAH CAHALAN, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness'We need more books like Maid, with the view from behind the fridge and under the couch. Stephanie Land has something to teach us about both sides of the inequality divide. Neither is what you are expecting.'BARBARA EHRENREICH, international bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed'As a solo mom and former house cleaner, this brave book resonated with me on a very deep level. We live in a world where the solo mother is an incomplete story: adrift in the world without a partner, without support, without a grounding, centering (male) force. But women have been doing this since the dawn of time, and Stephanie Land is one of millions of solo moms forced to get blood from stone. She is at once an old and new kind of American hero. This memoir of resilience and love has never been more necessary.'DOMENICA RUTA, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You'Stephanie Land's heartrending book, Maid, provides a trenchant reminder that something is amiss with the American Dream and gives voice to the millions of "working poor" toiling in a country that needs them but doesn't want to see them. A sad and hopeful tale of being on the outside looking in, the author makes us wonder how'd we fare scrubbing and vacuuming away the detritus of an affluence that always seems beyond reach."STEVE DUBLANICA, New York Times bestselling author of Waiter Rant'Heartfelt and powerful...Land's love for her daughter shines brightly through the pages of this beautiful, uplifting story of resilience and survival.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'There's two stories in Maid. One is of the grind, agony and precariousness of poverty and the systems and stigma that mindlessly trap people in it. The other is a love story - of a mother and daughter, but also a woman's love for herself when world has turned its back on her. An important book giving a powerful voice to those who are too regularly overlooked.' MARISA BATE'A work full of integrity and of the grit, graft and grace that comes with it. Stephanie Land's memoir is an essential manual in the sort of resilience, hope and diligence many of us will be fortunate enough to never experience. Maid comes from the gut not the gutter. Stephanie Land was meant to be a writer.' LISA BLOWER, award-winning author of Sitting Ducks

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Book SynopsisOver the past century, American demographics and social norms have shifted dramatically. If trends continue, we should expect to see more people living alone, later-in-life marriages, fewer (and smaller) new families, and a majority-minority population that skews older and older. Americans' daily life and preferences have also changed, whether by choice or by force, to become more virtual, more mobile, and less stable. But housing today largely looks the same as it did in 1950.In Brave New Home, Diana Lind shows why the government-subsidized suburbs full of single-family houses are bad for us and our planet, and details the new efforts underway that better reflect the way we live now, to ensure that the way we live next is both less lonely and more affordable. Lind takes readers into the homes and communities that are seeking alternatives to the American norm, from multi-generational living, in-law suites, and co-living to microapartments, tiny houses, and new rural communities. Drawing on Lind's expertise and the stories of Americans caught in or forging their on paths outside of our cookie-cutter housing trap, Brave New Home offers a diagnosis of the current crisis in American housing and a radical re-imagining of the possibilities of housing.

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Book SynopsisBrokeblends powerful human stories with analysis of the policies that have led us to this point and the reforms we urgently need.

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Orwell Prize, 2019 ____________The Times Round-up of the Best Non-fiction Paperbacks, 2019The Times Best Current Affairs and Big Ideas Book of the Year, 2018For many in modern Britain, careers are low-paid and high-risk, a series of short-term jobs with no security and little future. In this essential exposé, James Bloodworth goes undercover to investigate how working life has become a waking nightmare. From the Orwellian reach of an Amazon warehouse to the trials of a care worker, Hired is a clear-eyed analysis of a divided nation and a riveting dispatch from the very frontline of low-wage Britain.'An extraordinary and unsettling journey into the way modern Britons work. It is George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London for the gig-economy age' MATTHEW D'ANCONA, author of Post-TruthTrade ReviewPotent, disturbing and revelatory... [Bloodworth] sets out to see something we should know more about than we do, and he tells the story of what he found well. * Evening Standard *A very discomforting book, no matter what your politics might be... very good * Sunday Times *Grim but necessary reading... Theresa May should horrify [Bloodworth] by picking up a copy of Hired and learning from it. * Spectator *An extraordinary and unsettling journey into the way modern Britons work. It is Down and Out In Paris and London for the gig economy age. * Matthew d'Ancona, Guardian columnist and bestselling author of Post-Truth *Exceptional... Bloodworth is the best young left wing writer Britain has produced in years. * Observer *Powerful and important... [Hired] reveals the true reality of the low-pay economy in Britain today. * Guardian *Elegant and frequently shocking. * Daily Mail *Unflinching... a refreshing antidote to the fashionable post-work these written from steel-and-ivory towers. * Prospect *A wake-up call to us all. A very graphic and authentic journey exposing the hard and miserable working life faced by too many people living in Britain today. * Margaret Hodge, MP, former Chair, Public Accounts Committee *Whatever you think of the political assertions in this book - and I disagree with many of them - this is an important investigation into the reality of low-wage Britain. Whether you are on the Right, Left or Centre, anybody who believes in solidarity and social justice should read this book. * Nick Timothy, former Chief of Staff to Theresa May *I emerged from James Bloodworth's quietly devastating and deeply disturbing book convinced that the 'gig economy' is simply another way in which the powerful are enabled to oppress the disadvantaged * D. J. Taylor, author of Orwell: The Biography *A truly devastating examination of the vulnerable human underbelly of Britain's labour market, shining a bright light on the unjust and exploitative practices that erode the morale and living standards of working-class communities. * Frank Field, MP *James Bloodworth pulls back the carpet and exposes the rotten floorboards of Britain's low wage, insecure and exploitative economy, describing living and working conditions that Dickens would recognise. A wake-up call to our political elites to genuinely tackle the gross inequality at the heart of our society. * Wes Streeting, MP *Hired is a refreshing antidote to the fashionable post-work theses written from steel-and-ivory towers * The Big Questions (BBC TV) *James Bloodworth's unflinching account of life and work in the towns we have come to know as being "left behind" exposes the mercilessness of the low-wage economy and modern capitalism * Prospect *

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell''s vivid memoir of his time living among the desperately poor and destitute, Down and Out in Paris and London is a moving tour of the underworld of society.''You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them.'' Written when Orwell was a struggling writer in his twenties, it documents his ''first contact with poverty''. Here, he painstakingly documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris''s vile ''Hôtel X'', surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and a starving Russian ex-army captain. Exposing a shocking, previously-hidden world to his readers, Orwell gave a human face to the statistics of poverty for the first time - and in doing so, found his voice as a writer.Trade ReviewThe white-hot reaction of a sensitive, observant, compassionate young man to poverty -- Dervla MurphyOrwell was the great moral force of his age * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisKensington and Chelsea - one of the wealthiest spots on planet Earth - is also one of the most unequal. A short walk from Harrods, families cannot buy enough food to feed themselves. Desperate overcrowding is found in the shadow of ultraluxury property developments. A 20 minute bus ride across the borough can encompass a 30 year difference in life expectancy.Emma Dent Coad, a councillor in Kensington and Chelsea since 2006, and has spent her life fighting for those left behind in the Royal Borough. That fight became all the more urgent when, just a few days after she was unexpectedly and triumphantly elected MP for the area, the Grenfell Tower disaster occurred, illustrating to the country and the world just how neglected the most vulnerable members of our society had become.One Kensington lays bare the appalling degree of mismanagement and neglect that has made Kensington and Chelsea a grim symbol of an ever more divided country: a glimpse of a wider future of hollowed-out local government and cynical corruption. But through the depth of community connections and tireless political organising, it also suggests a potentially hopeful future for a new Britain.Trade ReviewThere is a lot of controlled fury in it, an absolute refusal to let go of the principles that you don't often hear * Guardian *Speaks to a lost London barely recognisable in the more staid, corporate landscape today * Sunday Times *A brutal exposé . . . written with furious personal compassion for those let down. It is a deconstruction of the culture that ultimately led to some of the failures at Grenfell Tower and is absolutely damning from start to finish -- Peter Apps * Inside Housing *Insightful and thought provoking ... well worth reading * Love Wirrall *An eye-opening, breath-taking and damning indictment of the divisions that rend this country... required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the pressing case for meaningful local democracy - and how far Britain falls short of it * Morning Star *

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Book SynopsisAccording to the United Nations, more than one billion people now live in the slums of the cities of the South. In this brilliant and ambitious book, Mike Davis explores the future of a radically unequal and explosively unstable urban world. From the sprawling barricadas of Lima to the garbage hills of Manila, urbanization has been disconnected from industrialization, and even from economic growth. Davis portrays a vast humanity warehoused in shantytowns and exiled from the formal world economy. He argues that the rise of this informal urban proletariat is a wholly unforeseen development, and asks whether the great slums, as a terrified Victorian middle class once imagined, are volcanoes waiting to erupt.Trade ReviewA profound enquiry into an urgent subject . a brilliant book. -- Arundhati RoyWith cool indignation, Davis argues that the exponential growth of slums is no accident but the result of a perfect storm of corrupt leadership, institutional failure, and IMF-imposed programs leading to a massive transfer of wealth from rich to poor . Like the work of Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, and Lincoln Steffens over a century ago, this searing indictment makes the shame of our cities urgently clear. -- Michael SorkinThe Raymond Chandler of urban geography . In Planet of Slums, Davis's genre is the global disaster movie, as directed by the chroniclers of Victorian poverty: Engels, Booth and Dickens. The scale of modern squalor revealed in his brilliant survey dwarfs its predecessors . a coruscating tragedy. * Independent *The astonishing facts hit like anvil blows . Davis has produced a heartbreaking book that hammers the reader a little further into the ground with the blow of each new and shocking statistic. * Financial Times *A terrifying, magisterial work. * Harper’s *There can be no doubt about the achievement of Planet of Slums . it forces us, angrily, to confront the deplorable realities of slum existence and the limitations of slum policies in many developing countries. * Times (London) *While many case studies have described what it means to reside in a favela, basti, kampung, gecekondu or bidonville, Davis provides a properly global portrait . And whereas urban specialists have focused on questions of space and land use in their discussions of slums, and developmentalists on the issue of their 'informal economies', Planet of Slums commands our attention as a broader historical synthesis of the two. * New Left Review *Davis's descriptions of the conditions endured by slum-dwellers provide reason enough to read this book. His analysis is full of gripping stories from globalization's frontline. * New Statesman *Packed with rigorous analysis and heart-stopping facts, this is a brilliant exploration of how millions of poor city-dwellers worldwide are being driven to the squalid periurban shadowlands of today's megaslums . Davis's book is absolutely vital reading. * Big Issue *

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Book SynopsisA TELEGRAPH AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN POLLARD FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE ''Impressive . . . tender, unflinching'' Guardian''This is poetry in the grand tradition of annihiliation by desire. It''s what the young are always learning, and the old, if they are wise, never forget'' Anne Boyer, author of The Undying''Brilliant . . . heralds the arrival of a frank and vital poetic voice'' Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti''Frank and alert . . . an important voice in British poetry'' Eley Williams, author of The Liar''s Dictionary''Direct and heart-breaking'' Alex Dimitrov, author of Love and Other Poems''A rare thing . . . razor-sharp'' Julia Copus, author of This Rare Spirit: A Life of Charlotte MewIn Rotten Days in Late Summer, Ralf Webb turns poetry to an examination of the textures of class, youth, adulthood and death in the working communities of the West Country, from mobile home parks, boyish factory workers and saleswomen kept on the road for days at a time, to the yearnings of young love and the complexities of masculinity.Alongside individual poems, three sequences predominate: a series of ''Love Stories'', charting a course through the dreams, lies and salt-baked limbs of multiple relationships; ''Diagnostics'', which tells the story of the death from cancer of the poet''s father; and ''Treetops'', a virtuosic long poem weaving together grief and mental health struggles in an attempt to come to terms with the overwhelming data of a life.The world of these poems is close, dangerous, lustrous and difficult: a world in which whole existences are lived in the spin of almost-inescapable fates. In searching for the light within it, this prodigious debut collection announces the arrival of a major new voice in British poetry.Trade ReviewIt's a rare thing to come across a debut collection as cohesive and accomplished as Rotten Days in Late Summer. Whether writing on love, class, illness, the working life, death or the complex and multi-faceted nature of human desire, Ralf Webb is never less than razor-sharp. With a storyteller's flair, he evokes a world of shifting terrains in which 'anything could be an omen', and where refrains, motifs, stanza shapes and rhymes call to each other across the pages. In his extraordinary 'Treetops' sequence, Webb navigates the labyrinths of mental illness and the ambiguous prize of health . . . It all feels gloriously, anarchically new -- Julia CopusThis is close-range language, magnifying without prejudice both the beautiful and the hard. Ralf Webb's poetry tells the truth of the push-pull of liberation and obligation . . . To work, to care, to mourn, but also to be a poet and queer and . . . dream of a commune in France - this is poetry in the grand tradition of annihilation by desire. It's what the young are always learning, and the old, if they are wise, never forget -- Anne BoyerHis poems take on grief and young manhood, and are largely set in England's West Country. 'Accept this cheap and ironclad cynicism,' Webb writes. 'We're not famous. I am completely in love.' The voice in this book is direct and heart-breaking. There's no pretension. It's all heart -- Alex Dimitrov * Oprah Daily *Webb's collection concerns captivation and captivity, its dignities and its violences, with frank and alert complexity. Be it in remembered school corridors, the careening horizons of grief or longed-for resolutions within and without desire, he presents the strange within the recognisable and the recognisable within the strange. A careful-bold, important voice in British poetry -- Eley WilliamsRalf Webb is an ethnographer of the present. He is interested in everyday life in the extreme. What we find is that "There is a goodness here, somewhere, there is sense in struggle." Equal parts ode, litany, and menace, Rotten Days in Late Summer opens us up to the agon of the new century -- Peter Gizzi

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Book SynopsisHow work stole our lives and what we can do about itTrade Review'A brilliant, searing exposé of the lies underpinning work' -- Owen Jones'Fascinating and absorbing ... a corrective to the widespread view that anyone can find fulfilment through their job, if they just work hard enough' -- Grace Blakeley, editor of 'Futures of Socialism' (Verso, 2020)‘Amelia Horgan is, in the words of organizer Fred Ross, a social arsonist. Her book will set your world on fire. Somewhere in our bones, we know that work is getting worse. But with this book, Horgan has provided the match and the kindling we need to burn the whole thing down’ -- Sarah Jaffe, author of 'Work Won't Love You Back' (Hurst, 2021)'At last, a book that helps us appreciate the long history of the working class challenge to the tyranny of work that puts class struggle in the workplace firmly back on the agenda' -- John McDonnell, former Shadow Chancellor of the Labour Party'An excellent and important book. It combines sharp political insight with nuanced analyses ... an invaluable resource to those with an interest not just in better understanding labour and exploitation, but also in the possibilities of freedom and collective joy' -- Helen Hester, Professor of Gender, Technology and Cultural Politics at the University of West London and author of 'Xenofeminism' (Polity, 2018)'I can't think of a more succinct and elegant expression of what work does to us and, in turn, why it's never been more urgent to shape our work' -- Will Stronge, Director of Research at Autonomy and author of 'Post-Work' (Bloomsbury, 2022)'An incisive analysis of the contemporary crisis of work - and a ringing call to reimagine it' -- Amia Srinivasan, Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at All Souls College, Oxford, and author of 'The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-first Century' (Bloomsbury, 2021)‘Vivid … her humour and anger is quite a tonic’ -- Owen Hatherley, Tribune'A sharp polemic ... Horgan’s insights will appeal to anyone who has ever done a job they hated' -- Hettie O’Brien, ‘Guardian’‘Brilliant … I really can’t recommend it enough’ -- Daisy Schofield, ‘Huck’‘A succinct outline of how work has become our entire existence … Lost in Work’s rally against the working world resonates to our very cores’ -- Bille Walker, ‘Aurelia magazine’‘A concise book that convincingly challenges assumptions about working many would have considered unshakeable’ -- ‘STAT magazine’'Incisive ... a theory-rich but accessible entry point for young people to examine exactly how work is failing us.' -- Sadhbh O’Sullivan, 'Refinery29'‘Timely’ -- ‘Evening Standard’‘This book incisively dissects what counts for received wisdom about work … Horgan has applied Marxist theory to everyday life with alacrity. In so doing, she has armed her readers to fight back’ -- Conrad Landin, ‘Camden New Journal’‘Smartly defines the present moment in labour politics’ -- ‘Teen Vogue’‘An anti-capitalist manifesto … Lost in Work, at its most powerful, shakes up our sense of what is politically imaginable’ -- ‘Boston Review’‘A perceptive philosophical account of what work is, what it does to us, and how we can reorganise it’ -- Katrina Forrester, ‘New Statesman’‘I really recommend this book … [Lost in Work] provides a really progressive discussion on how we should talk and think about work, and how and why our current capitalist system is cheating us’ -- Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of ‘Chicken Shop Date’‘A systematic takedown of the untenable conditions of what it is like to work now’ -- ‘Art Monthly’‘A call to action ... Horgan has applied Marxist theory to everyday life with alacrity. In so doing, she has armed her readers to fight back’ -- ‘Islington Tribune’Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Work’s fantasy 1. Work, capitalism and capitalist work 2. Contesting ‘work’ 3. The paradox of new work 4. What does work do to us as individuals? 5. Jobification nation: When play is serious business 6. What does work do to society? 7. Phantoms and slackers: Resistance at work 8. Getting together: Organised labour and the workers’ dream 9. Time off: Resistance to work Conclusion: Getting to work

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Book Synopsis'Orwell was the great moral force of his age' SpectatorYou can live on a shilling a day in Paris if you know how. But it is a complicated business.When he was a struggling writer in his twenties, George Orwell lived as a down-and-out among the poorest members of society. In this early memoir, he recounts shocking experiences working as a penniless dishwasher in Paris, pawning clothes to buy a day's worth of bread and wine, sleeping in bug-infested bunks, trading survival skills and cigarette butts with fellow tramps, and trudging between London's workhouse spikes for a few hours' sleep and tea-and-two-slices. With sensitivity and compassion, Orwell exposed the hardships of poverty and gave readers an unprecedented look at life lived on the fringes of society. His vivid account is an enduring call to support the world's most vulnerable people and exemplifies his belief that 'The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.' The Authoritative Text. With a new introduction by Kerry Hudson.*The jacket of this stunning hardback edition features period artwork by Elizabeth Friedlander, one of Europe's pre-eminent 20th-century graphic designers. Look out for complementjary editions of Orwell's essential works Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.*Trade ReviewAn extraordinary and curious book: beautifully phrased, meticulous, honest and funny. George Orwell’s 1933 memoir, and a study of poverty, is a book both rooted in its era and able to transcend it... a book that has inspired countless people to try to understand the personal and political issues at the heart of homelessness – and continues to do so today. -- Hannah PriceThe white-hot reaction of a sensitive, observant, compassionate young man to poverty'Orwell was the great moral force of his age * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisWhen Covid struck in early 2020, librarian Stu Hennigan volunteered to deliver food parcels to vulnerable people in Leeds who were self-isolating and had no other access to food during the savage days of the first lockdown; but when word got out that the council were giving away food, people on low incomes struggling to feed themselves and their families were quick to accept the offer of help and it became immediately apparent that the pandemic was not the whole story. Ghost Signs is Stu's account of the scandalous deprivation he encountered during that time, and shows up close how a decade of Austerity has ravaged our most vulnerable communities and left local authorities financially unable to cope with a crisis of this magnitude. It's also a day-to-day diary of the earliest months of the pandemic which holds up a mirror to the trauma inflicted by lockdown on the national psyche while the Prime Minister and his government partied in Downing Street in flagrant breach of their own draconian rules.Trade ReviewGhost Signs is a damning indictment of Conservative austerity and the government's contemptuous response to the pandemic. New Statesman

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing Award 2021 In 2016, a United Nations report found the UK government culpable for grave and systematic violations' of disabled people's rights. Since then, driven by the Tory government's obsessive drive to slash public spending whilst scapegoating the most disadvantaged in society, the situation for disabled people in Britain has continued to deteriorate. Punitive welfare regimes, the removal of essential support and services, and an ideological regime that seeks to deny disability has resulted in a situation described by the UN as a human catastrophe'.In this searing account, Ellen Clifford an activist who has been at the heart of resistance against the war on disabled people reveals precisely how and why this state of affairs has come about. From spineless political opposition to self-interested disability charities, rightwing ideological myopia to the media demonization of benefits claimants, a shTrade ReviewA new book by disabled activist Ellen Clifford could not be more timely. Clifford, who is active in the UK with the Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) looks at the intersection between capitalism and disability and how disabled activists have been fighting against the austerity agenda in the UK ... The courage, commitment and clarity of politics found in Clifford’s book are a resource that anyone who is serious about building a better world can draw on. * Spring Magazine *The War on Disabled People is a must-read book on resistance to the "conscious cruelty" of austerity, which attacks the most disadvantaged … Clifford's book thoroughly documents the government’s ideological policy agenda of welfare reforms to rip away the welfare-state safety net and put conscious cruelty at the heart of their austerity agenda. * Morning Star *A fascinating and well-researched understanding of how, since 2010, the lives of disabled people in the UK have been negatively impacted by political decisions including austerity and capitalism ... The book packs a punch. It leaves the reader in no doubt about how each separate austerity cut has cumulatively affected and eroded the lives of disabled people. * Independent Living *‘A vivid account of the systemic oppression on people labelled “disabled” and is essential reading for everyone concerned about inequality and injustice. * Colin Barnes, University of Leeds *‘If you want to resist the cold cruelty of the war on disabled people and its intensification in the age of austerity, this book is utterly indispensable. * John Clarke, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty *Disabled people have suffered terribly in the period of Tory austerity. Just bad luck? Ellen Clifford gives the answer and explores the uncaring politics behind this harsh regime of punishing the vulnerable. This is an essential book. * Ken Loach, filmmaker & activist *A valuable framework for our continued resistance against the continuing onslaught of purely ideological attacks on our human rights. * Linda Burnip, Disabled People Against Cuts *As the proportion of disabled people gets ever larger in societies globally, this becomes a must-read text. * Peter Beresford, University of Essex and Co-Chair of Shaping Our Lives *‘A forensic account of the devastating assault on disabled people’s benefits and services. * Roddy Slorach, author of A Very Capitalist Condition: A History and Politics of Disability *This is an angry and important book, full of damning findings, moving testimonies and above all highlighting the inspiring struggles of a new generation of activists against a brutally disabling system. * The Socialist Review *[A] hugely revelatory account of the one-quarter of UK society whose struggle for justice is literally a matter of life and death. * Peace News *Table of ContentsPart I Hidden in Plain Sight: the social context for the war on disabled people 1 1. Who are disabled people? 2. Justifiable exclusion: attitudes and othering of disabled people 3. From asylums to independent living: disabled people on the edge of society Part II Targeting Disabled People: retrogressive legislation and policy since 2010 4. Welfare ‘reform’ 5. Independent living cuts Part III Human Catastrophe: the impact of austerity and welfare reform 6. The human cost 7. Re-segregating society 8. Political fallout Part IV Understanding the Welfare War: why disabled people are under attack 9. A story of ideology and incompetence 10. Collaborators Part V Fighting Back: the rise of resistance 11. Forefront of the fightback 12. Concluding thoughts: where do we go from here?

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Book SynopsisA powerful, personal agenda-changing exploration of poverty in today's Britain.'Totally engrossing and deliciously feisty' Bernardine Evaristo'Staggering... An absolute inspiration' Douglas Stewart, Herald'When every day of your life you have been told you have nothing of value to offer, that you are worth nothing to society, can you ever escape that sense of being 'lowborn' no matter how far you've come?'Kerry Hudson is proudly working class but she was never proudly poor. The poverty she grew up in was all-encompassing, grinding and often dehumanising. Always on the move with her single mother, Kerry attended nine primary schools and five secondaries, living in B&Bs and council flats. She scores eight out of ten on the Adverse Childhood Experiences measure of childhood trauma.Twenty years later, Kerry's life is unrecognisable. She's a prizewinning novelist who has travelled the world. She has a secure home, a loving partner and access to art, music, film and books. But she often finds herself looking over her shoulder, caught somehow between two worlds.Lowborn is Kerry's exploration of where she came from. She revisits the towns she grew up in to try to discover what being poor really means in Britain today and whether anything has changed.'One of the most important books of the year' GuardianTrade ReviewI loved Lowborn... A powerful exploration of Hudson's working-class childhood and its legacy -- David Nicholls, author of One DayHudson's resilience, grace and humility is staggering. She's an absolute inspiration -- Douglas Stewart * Herald *Absolutely beautiful -- Stanley TucciKerry Hudson blew me away, opened my eyes -- Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read * You're Booked *Compelling, fascinating and well-written, undeniably grim but peppered with humour and tenderness...Hudson demonstrates that only by lifting whole communities out of poverty...can we hope to avoid consigning children and young people like her - vulnerable and blameless - to the worst of lives -- Kit de Waal * Daily Telegraph *Lowborn is in part an indictment of a country that claims to still have a functioning welfare state... Most of all, it is a moving portrait of the survival and eventual flourishing of a remarkable spirit -- John Harris * Guardian *I've been in thrall to the words of Kerry Hudson since reading the very first sentence of her spectacularly good debut novel. I'm so glad she is writing Lowborn. It's an important book that needs to exist and she is exactly the right person to write it. The hideous divisiveness that the horror that is Brexit has both revealed and fuelled, only makes this book more necessary -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of THE LAST ACT OF LOVEElegant, compassionate and powerful... tells the hidden story of what it means to be poor in Britain today -- Charlotte Heathcote * Sunday Express *Lowborn is an insider's view of the complexities of modern-day poverty, written with humour and compassion, but without judgement. It should be required reading for anyone who unknowingly believes poverty is a personal choice and that if you work hard enough you'll avoid its fate... a fearless writer, an inspiring woman -- Jackie Annesley * Sunday Times *One of the most important books of the year -- Nikesh Shukla * Guardian *Beautifully written but with emotional hand grenades detonating on almost every page...a breathtaking odyssey -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times *Where there are few working-class stories, there are fewer still from working-class women. Lowborn stands out as rare, as well as compassionately and skilfully told… Some books help us understand the world around us. Others do that, and make us feel less alone in it, too. Lowborn is one such book, holding out a hand of friendship to anyone who might pick it up and find something forgotten or familiar among its pages -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman *I wish I’d had access to such honest and relatable work as Hudson’s when I was younger. She proves that successful women can have a working-class story -- Hollie Richardson * Stylist *Hudson has written a moving and readable account of growing up in the poorest section of society. Her book is also a meditation on social mobility… Hudson’s life is proof that a person can, against the odds, make a success of themselves. In Lowborn, she shows us very clearly why so many do not -- James Bloodworth * The Times *Lowborn is the opposite of a misery memoir. The chapters alternate between Hudson's raw memories and accounts of her present-day attempts to confront them. There's warmth and courage as well as pain and ultimately triumph here * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis'A Mumbai slum understood and imagined as never before in language of intense beauty' Salman Rushdie 'If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it' Barbara Ehrenreich Annawadi is a slum at the edge of Mumbai Airport, in the shadow of shining new luxury hotels. Its residents are garbage recyclers and construction workers, economic migrants, all of them living in the hope that a small part of India's booming future will eventually be theirs. But when a crime rocks the slum community and global recession and terrorism shocks the city, tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy begin to turn brutal. As Boo gets to know those who dwell in Mumbai's margins, she evokes an extraordinarily vivid group of individuals flourishing against the odds amid the complications, corruptions and gross inequalities of the new India. 'A triumph of a book. A beautiful account of the sorrows and joys, anxieties and stamina, in the lives of the precarious and powerless in urban India' Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics 'Magnificent...a masterpiece... Quite simply, one of the finest works on contemporary India yet written' Sunday TelegraphTrade ReviewA triumph of a book. A beautiful account of the sorrows and joys, anxieties and stamina, in the lives of the precarious and powerless in urban India... A brilliant book that simultaneously informs, agitates, angers, inspires and instigates. -- Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize for EconomicsOne's first reaction is disbelief followed by stunned silence... takes us into the very engine room of the undercity and shines a light on each of the cogs and ratchets... Adamantine, unignorable, truthful. -- Neel Mukherjee * The Times *Magnificent... Boo does not flinch from addressing Mumbai's social inequalities, in particular the plight of its underclass... A masterpiece... quite simply, one of the finest works on contemporary India yet written. -- Ian Thomson * Sunday Telegraph *One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it. -- Barbara EhrenreichBehind the Beautiful Forevers is already a legend...It cannot be dismissed as yet another lazy excursion into slum poverty tourism, or as an outsider's account of India... Unforgettable. -- Nilanjana Roy * Business Standard *It might surprise you how completely enjoyable this book is, as rich and beautifully written as a novel. In the hierarchy of long form reporting, Katherine Boo is right up there. -- David SedarisNovelists dream of defining characters this swiftly and beautifully, but Boo is not a novelist. She is a rare deep-digging journalists who can make truth surpass fiction, a documentarian with a superb sense of human drama. -- Janet Maslin * New York Times *Kate Boo's reporting is a form of kinship. There are books that change the way you feel and see; this is one of them. If we receive the fiery spirit from which it was written, it ought to change much more than that. -- Adrian LeBlanc, author of Random FamilyWithout question the best book thus written on contemporary India. -- Ramachandra Guha, author of India After GandhiA fantastic book. -- David Remnick * New Yorker *A superb book. -- Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond MountainsRemember the title Behind the Beautiful Forevers because you will see it on upcoming nominee lists for the next round of Very Important Literary Prizes... An unforgettable true story, meticulously researched with unblinking honesty ... it is pure, astonishing reportage. * Christian Science Monitor *There are cult filmmakers and cult novelists, but Katherine Boo may be the world's only cult journalist. * Salon *Extraordinary... Behind the Beautiful Forevers does not descend into a catalog of atrocity... The product of prolonged and risky self-exposure to Annawadi, the book's narrative stitches, with much skillfully unspoken analysis, some carefully researched individual lives. Its considerable literary power is also derived from Boo's soberly elegant prose... Perhaps wisely, Boo has absented herself from the narrative... Instead of the faux-na?f explainer or the intrepid adventurer in Asian badlands, you get a reflective sensibility, subtly informing every page with previous experiences of deprivation and striving, and a gentle skepticism about ideological claims. -- Charles McGrath * New York Times *Character development. An acute ear for dialogue and idiom. A sense of place. These are the essential ingredients of a good novel. So what's a fiction writer like me supposed to do when Boo employs all these and writes a book of nonfiction so stellar it puts most novels to shame? How can I not envy a work that takes us on harrowing journey into an unfamiliar world of an urban slum and makes us citizens of that world? To add salt to my literary wounds: That slum is located in Mumbai, the city of my birth, one I've written about frequently, and until now, claimed to know and understand. It turns out I knew little. And understood even less. -- Thrity Umrigar * Boston Globe *Katherine Boo's extraordinary first book is... above all, a moral enquiry. Her eye is as shrewdly trained on the essential facts of politics and commerce as on the intimate, the familial and, indeed, the monstrously absurd: the college-going girl who struggles to figure out "Mrs. Dalloway" while her closest friend, about to be forced into an arranged marriage, consumes rat poison, and dies (though not before the doctors attending her extort 5,000 rupees, or $100, from her parents). -- Pankaj Mishra * New York Times *A riveting, fearlessly reported portrait of a poverty so obliterating that it amounts to a slow-motion genocide. Behind the Beautiful Forevers will be one of the year's big books - a conversation starter, an award winner... The book plays out like a swift, richly plotted novel. That's partly because Boo writes so damn well. * Entertainment Weekly *An astoundingly well-reported and beautifully crafted book on 21st century India...distilled into prose that blows you away with its beauty, wit and restraint. * Outlook India *[Has the suspense, sensation and tragedy of a novel, except that every word is real. * The Hindu *Remarkable. -- Ian Jack * New York Review of Books *A bravura work of non-fiction that goes beyond clichéd, patronising depictions of poverty to raise uncomfortable questions about justice and opportunity for India's urban poor in the age of global market capitalism ... Thanks to the transcendent quality of Boo's prose, this "sumpy plug of slum" springs to life with all the drama and vividness of great fiction ... Boo's great achievement is to have overcome barriers of language, culture and ethnicity to get inside the minds of her subjects to decode their innermost thoughts. And because she has written about the everyday experiences of real people, using real names, we get to rub our noses in the dirt of Annawadi, see the world through their eyes. -- Vikas Swarup * FT *Must read: a Mumbai slum imagined and understood as never before in language of intense beauty. -- Salman RushdieBoo's descriptions of life within are almost Dickensian, as are her characters ... The language of the book is beautiful, and she reconstructs scenes through endless interviews with her subjects. * Telegraph *Deploying spare, unadorned prose, Boo throws the slumdwellers into such sharp relief that, reading the book, one has the sense of seeing them at first hand ... By absenting herself, Boo endows her writing with an uncommon immediacy. -- Nikhil Kumar * Independent on Sunday *A powerful and sobering book. * Conde Nast Traveller *A small masterpiece of documentary storytelling. In its subject matter of poverty, its meticulous research and Boo's great gift for sympathy, the book seems an obvious next step in a successful career. -- Susannah Rustin * Guardian *An extraordinary, intimate and gripping book, which it is no exaggeration to describe as a milestone in writing about poverty, and already one of this year's most memorable reads ... Boo's seamlessly structured narrative allows these stories to unfold alongside the personal dramas of the characters. Her tone is admirably restrained, and never patronising or mawkish ... The close focus of Behind the Beautiful Forevers is what gives it its clarity, and makes it so affecting. -- Alex Von Tunzelmann * Evening Standard *In the end one puts down this impressive work relieved that one can rest from the remorselessness of its tragedies yet grateful one has learned about them from a writer who combines such innate human sympathy with such high literary skill. We can be grateful too to that unabridged dictionary for serving an unintended purpose. -- David Gilmour * Spectator *A small masterpiece ... thanks to several years of rigorous research on the ground, following her characters around as they live their lives, months of research retrieving court documents through India's Right to Information Act, and, most of all, through close observation and a deep human empathy, Boo has created as detailed, convincing and moving a portrait of urban deprivation as The Road to Wigan Pier. Throughout, Boo writes beautifully and, given her subject, surprisingly wittily. She is also wonderfully observant of human quirks ... There have been many attempts by writers in recent years to pin to the page the hopes and fears of the new India. Most have attempted to do so by giving a sense of the extraordinary scale of the changes transforming the world's largest democracy. Yet by homing in on one small group of characters, the bit-part players in the story of India's development, Boo has succeeded better than any of them in showing both the possibilities, and the human cost, of India's great leap forward. -- William Dalrymple * Observer *A remarkable book ... In the end one puts down this impressive work relieved that one can rest from the remorselessness of its tragedies yet grateful one has learned about them from a writer who combines such innate human sympathy with such high literary skill. We can be grateful too to that unabridged dictionary for serving an unintended purpose. -- David Gilmour * Spectator *Reads so much like a well-crafted novel ... A compelling book which combines the skills of journalistic reportage and emotive storytelling, and excels at both. -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *Most recent books about the country, unselfconsciously suffused with the clichés of the age, speak of how free-market capitalism has ignited a general explosion of opportunity, fostering hope among the most destitute of Indians. Boo describes what really happens when opportunity accrues to the already privileged in the age of globalisation, when governments remain dysfunctional and corrupt. -- Pankaj Mishra * Scotsman *This is an astonishing book. It is astonishing on several levels: as a worm's-eye view of the "undercity" of one of the world's largest metropolises; as an intensely reported, deeply felt account of the lives, hopes and fears of people traditionally excluded from literate narratives; as a story that truly hasn't been told before, at least not about India and not by a foreigner ... The result is a searing account, in effective and racy prose, that reads like a thrilling novel but packs a punch Sinclair Lewis might have envied. -- Shashi Tharoor * Washington Post *Behind the Beautiful Forevers neither sensationalises the squalor nor judges those responsible for it. Boo's studied understatement, her obsession with authenticity and her almost painful empathy are eloquent enough ... Honest and often deeply affecting, Katherine Boo's book deserves a place alongside the award-winning studies of North Korea and Sarajevo by Barbara Demick. -- John Keay * Literary Review *An exceptional work of reportage ... Boo makes no attempt to disguise the miseries involved in living close to a vast pool of sewage on land where feral pigs gorge on rotting leftovers from the airport hotels. She does not pretend that the Annawadians possess virtues that they do not. However, she does grant them individuality and respect, as real people, whose many pains and occasional pleasures she evokes with great skill and empathy. -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *A small classic of contemporary writing. -- Amit Chaudhuri * Guardian *A page-turner with a gripping human story, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the real India. -- Jonathan Foreman * Mail on Sunday *Her prose is so beautiful, witty and economical, her narrative so powerful, that it's easy to forget this is an unprecedented piece of investigative journalism as well. -- Amy Walden * Financial Times *Boo produces a gripping narrative of urban deprivation, underworld scams, sexual abuse, social injustice and human tragedy... Boo shows the human cost of Mumbai's burgeoning economic prosperity with disturbing brilliance. * Metro *Read this book for its insights into the wealth divide that exists in India's "richest" city. But also enjoy its ability to entertain as a novel does. * Evening Chronicle *The product of prolonged and risky self-exposure to Annawadi, the narrative stitches, with much skilfully unspoken analysis, some carefully researched individual lives... [It has] considerable literary power. -- Pankaj Mishra * Scotsman *An exceptional piece of reportage. * Sunday Times Must Reads *An inspiring portrait of the human struggle to make a home in the most hellish situation. * Woman & Home *Honest and often deeply affecting, Boo's book deserves a place alongside the award-winning studies of North Korea and war-torn Sarajevo by Barbara Demick. * Literary Review *If you have no idea what life in the slums is like then I suspect this book will shock you. I can see why many people are naming it as their book of the year. * Farm Lane Books *The hope - and the hopelessness - recorded here is utterly heartbreaking, but never mawkish or indulgent... Starkly documents the ever-growing disparity between India's rich and poor... Truly important' -- Bryony Gordon * Daily Telegraph *[A] finely hewn, gently humoured and tough-minded work of lasting import. Behind the Beautiful Forevers combines ethical clarity and writerly exactitude to stimulate outrage and unsettling pleasure -- Guy Mannes-Abbott * Independent *Vivid and full of insight -- Anjali Joseph * Prospect *In this tough-minded debut, [Boo] asks why the poor don't rise up, and why unequal societies don't implode. Her answers are embedded in a narrative as pacy as a thriller -- Maggie Fergusson * Intelligent Life *Boo takes us to the slums of Mumbai and paints a vivid pictue of both poverty and resistance * Belfast Telegraph *A book of extraordinary intelligence, humanity and (formalistic) cunning... [Boo] humanizes with all the force of literature the impossible lives of the people at bottom of our pharaonic global order, and details with a journalist's unsparing exactitude the absolute suffering that undergirds India's economic boom. The portraits [are] indelible... groundbreaking -- Junot DíazThis is reality - and a shocking one at that -- Vanessa Baird * New Internationalist *[A] heartbreaking account of life in a Mumbai slum -- Anita Singh * Telegraph *Behind the Beautiful Forevers reads like a novel by Dickens, but is a real-life depiction of the challenges hundreds of millions of people face every day in urban slums. It's also a reminder of the humanity that connects us all -- Bill GatesAstonishingly vivid, beautifully written -- Steve Barfield * The Lady *The level of attention she gives the people in her book is so profound and respectful * Guernica Magazine *Skilful and compassionate writing without sentimentality or mythic abstraction -- Martha Nussbaum * Times Literary Supplement *A remarkable debut... The book's strength lies in its relentless focus on the grim human realities of poverty -- Andrew Graham Dixon, BBC 2 * Culture Show *Boo seems to have expanded the possibilities of the form with her scrupulous, novelistic imaginings of the thoughts of Mumbai slum-dwellers -- Paul Laity * Guardian *An exemplary piece of deep reporting... Meticulous and gripping -- Stephen Bleach, Books of the Year * Sunday Times *The narrative is so immediate and absorbing that I had stop and turn to the notes at the back to check that it really was a documentary account... A passionate work of reportage -- Kate Summerscale, Books of the Year * Daily Telegraph *She doesn't preach, she's not voyeuristic and rather than intrude on the action she saves the story of her own involvement for the afterword... A triumph -- Blake Morrison, Books of the Year * Guardian *Looks hard into places of extreme despair, and comes back brimming with irrepressible life... A masterpiece -- Tim Adams, Books of the Year * Observer *Boo's masterclass in reportage is remarkable -- Craig Taylor, Books of the Year * Observer *You put it down enraged, entertained and richly informed about people who live in makeshift quarters at the end of an airport runway -- David Hare, Books of the Year * Guardian *She has the insight of a novelist [but] retains the integrity of a uncompromising investigative reporter -- Roy Foster, Books of the Year * Times Literary Supplement *The harsh life of a Mumbai slum vividly recreated on the page in beautiful prose. Her characters are irresistibly alive. No slumdogs or millionaires here. Just the truth -- Salman Rushdie, Books of the Year * The Times *Boo's praised account of the residents of Annawadi, a slum in the shadow of luxury hotels near Mumbai airport -- Emily Stokes, Books of the Year * Financial Times *A classic... Combines a cool intelligence with a cinematic eye for detail -- Maggie Fergusson, Non-fiction Book of the Year * Intelligent Life *A devastating portrayal of street-dwellers struggling to survive against insurmountable odds * Sunday Herald *A fascinating, insightful and heartfelt piece of extended reportage -- Must Read 2012 * Metro *Boo has given us an insightful portrait of slum life -- Jan Breman * New Left Review *A small masterpiece -- Travel Awards 2012 * Oldie *A worm's eye view of the corruption and gross inequality of the new India, which was ecstatically reviewed from New York to New Delhi -- Books of the Year * The Week *Fascinating... Boo makes no political comment about the need for change but rather, like good writers before her who describe appalling inequalities, she allows her characters to speak for themselves -- Peter Gruner * Camden New Journal *She grants the residents respect as real people, evoking their many pains and occasional pleasures with great skill and empathy -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *A small classic of contemporary writing -- Amit Chaudhuri * Guardian *Vivid -- Michael Neale * Asian Affairs *Remarkable * Prospect *Painstaking reportage... page-turning in its novelistic sweep... meticulously researched. Vivid, clear-eyed, often bruising detail * Independent on Sunday *My favourite non-fiction book about the subcontinent, but one that reads like a soap opera. The tragedies, loves, disappointments and joys of the slum-dwellers of Mumbai are brought thrillingly to life by the author, who lived among them for two years. A testimony to brute survival and the human spirit. -- Author Deborah Moggach * Week *With her precise descriptions of relationships and the tragic lives of her characters, Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers reads like expertly crafted fiction -- President Barack Obama * Wired *A book [which] is no longer on the frontlist, but provide[s] vital ways for us to deepen the conversation... [it] stays with the reader and audience alike -- Ted Hodgkinson * Bookseller *

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Book SynopsisThe Targeted Poverty Alleviation programme was proposed by President Xi in 2013 and aims to give poor people the resources to lift themselves out of poverty. No fewer than three million cadres have been sent to the least developed areas of the country to educate, inspire and help the most impoverished people with financial support, jobs and business opportunities. The authors of this series of books visited some of the villages that were previously very poor, to document how developments in education, agriculture, health and tourism had created positive change. The authors wrote about what they saw, what they heard, how they felt in these areas and rendered them into touching and vivid stories. The south of Jiangxi Province is the well-known red revolutionary base area. Wang Song mainly describes the five most representative counties of poverty alleviation with characteristics and outstanding achievements -Yudu County, Shicheng County, Xingguo County, Quannan County and Longnan County in his reportage Red, Red Azalea. This reportage is structured with scatters stories in panorama view and renders the poverty alleviation vividly together with the revolution in the past, full of specific details of stories and characters, making it remarkable by its profound thoughts and political speculations, as well as historical depth and global vision.

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Book Synopsis''At times roaring and visceral, in turn gentle and embracing, always driven by hope and determination''RAYNOR WINN''Haunting and powerful'' KATE MOSSE Natasha Carthew was born into a world that sat alongside picture-postcard Cornwall, one where second homes took the sea view of council properties, summer months shifted the course of people''s lives, and wealth converged with poverty on sandy beaches.In the rockpools and hedgerows of the natural world, Natasha found solace in the beauty of the landscape, and in the mobile library she found her means of escape. In Undercurrent she returns to the cliff paths of her childhood, determined to make sense of an upbringing shaped by political neglect and a life defined by the beauty of nature.This is a journey through place, and a vivid story of hope, beauty and fierce resilience.''Marvellous, moving and mesmerising'' ANITA SETHI''A story of queer resTrade ReviewA powerful story of social inequality told with the depth of voice that only comes from a writer passionately rooted in place. Like the Cornish tides that fill her life, Carthew is at times roaring, visceral and exclusive, in turn gentle, embracing and inclusive, but always driven by hope and determination. * Raynor Winn *Haunting and powerful, a book about the sea and the power of belonging, about secrets and words, this is a beautiful and powerful memoir. I read it in one sitting. * Kate Mosse *Raw, rebellious, urgent and hopeful, this is a stunning tale of a life made and saved by nature -- Dr Helen ScalesNatasha Carthew shines the light on another side of Cornwall, one far from the world of bright Instagram pictures and celebrity travel shows. She reveals a place of poverty, dead-end jobs and little hope. But she writes so passionately about a world she knows well and her humanity and sense of humour shine though on every page, ensuring that the often dark subject matter fuels a rich, rewarding read -- Petroc TrelawnyLuscious layers of poetic prose that fluidly lead us through the landscapes and seascapes of Cornwall, recounting stories of poverty and often tough childhood struggles. Stories told by one who knew that they needed and wanted so much more for their life, but one for whom the seascape of Cornwall is still the hypnotic textural lens. This book is a beautiful, sometimes difficult, elegy to our innermost hopes, fears and dreams. Gorgeously and generously written -- Juno RocheA book like a beacon, blazing with love and anger for how it is to grow up poor and full of serious ambition in a place others use as a playground. Carthew's unbreakable commitment to making art from the outside edge of social provision is a rallying call to all of us who grew up pushed to the margins. This is a fierce, inspiring story -- Tanya ShadrickPoetic, political and powerful, Natasha Carthew weaves lyrical and sensual nature writing with the tough realities of growing up in poverty -- Chloe TimmsA compelling counterbalance to the conventional Cornish story, Undercurrent takes the reader into a side of Cornwall that is rarely presented to the outside world. Natasha Carthew, in scintillating prose, recounts her childhood by the sea, in a place full of dazzling natural beauty, but with a dark side of poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity. Her moving story of finding a way to become a writer is both a testament to her strength, and a passionate call for social justice for disadvantaged rural communities -- Sophie PierceRailing against the brutal unfairness of accepting the life she seems condemned to lead, Natasha weaves an exhilarating story of escaping the dangerous undercurrents of her life and becoming the writer she was always meant to be. I was with her until the end -- Linda GaskCarthew shows us Cornwall as it often lived but rarely seen, where the rich holiday and others struggle to survive. It's a tale of two counties with the ever-changing sea as a constant. It is a story of queer resistance, of community and of finding your own voice -- Damian BarrBy turns marvellous, moving, & mesmerising * Anita Sethi *A fierce, urgent memoir by one of our most important writers. Natasha Carthew is a warrior you'd want on your side in almost any battle, but more important, she is a torchbearer. If you want to understand life in rural Britain, look where she casts her light. * Amy-Jane Beer *This important and beautifully lyrical book asks questions about identity, belonging and the ability of words to transform a life * The Times *A simmering dissection of rural poverty -- Luke TurnerBeautiful and lyrical, Undercurrent explores the world of rural poverty with both striking honesty and heart. There is no other writer like Carthew * Mahsuda Snaith *Undercurrent is a fierce and different kind of nature writing, where the wildness is within as well as without: the life you're dealt, and how you manage it - survival, resourcefulness, protection, the ferocity and necessity of having an escape-dream, and the discovery of self-expression through creativity. Delivered in wave upon wave of the flotsam and jetsam, light through water, love, chaos, lack and rage, of trauma, abandonment and poverty in a rural, working class life.An eloquent shouting into the storm, there are quiet coves, where the wild beauty of a 'destination' landscape contrasts with deep and damaging eddies of deprivation. It is also a lifting of the eyes, heart and hope above the horizon, through the life-changing power and importance of literacy, cultural capital and the mobile library, as a means of freedom and opportunity.It's the paradox of how to love a place you belong to but cannot dwell in (that hurts you) and the need to escape it. Brace yourself. It left me breathless, and more determined than ever, to be a good and relevant school librarian. * Nicola Chester *This is an absolutely brilliant, essential book. I am only halfway through and can already tell it will change my heart and mind * Lucia Osborne-Crowley *The most lyrical description of Cornwall I have ever read... highly recommended * The Tablet *A proud, defiant account and despite all the bluster and squalls, Carthew is walking fire, fury and sinew, and yet not afraid to show her more vulnerable underbelly. One thing is clear - that this book is also about love. Familial love, love of community, platonic love, unrequited love, love of words, poetry, people and place - but where her words really sing is in her love of Cornwall, its coastlines, laneways, open skies and hidden places - places she wants to survive and thrive * Caught by the River *A vivid story of hope, beauty and resilience * Manx Independent *Charged with the power of nature, writing and little-heard rural working-class voices, this beautiful memoir is an ode to Cornwall, creativity, and resilience * Love Reading *Ferocious . . . A story of humour, resilience and doing things 'with Kernewek pride' * TLS *Carthew's fierce and honest memoir of her childhood and teenage years reveals the precarious nature of working-class life in a county where dazzling wealth and natural beauty rub shoulders with dark, grinding poverty. This is an inspiring tale of resilience founded on humour, poetry and love of nature * BBC Countryfile Magazine *Praise for Natasha Carthew:A beautiful piece of writing, such a testament to the generations of strong women who have inhabited this coast and told in a poetic Cornish accent so evocative of time and place -- Raynor WinnA real thing of beauty. The innovative structure and striking illustrations combine to create a verbal and visual feast. The reader feels like they are down in the darkness of mine and eavesdropping on the past -- Cathy RentzenbrinkCarthew is an elegantly lyrical writer * Independent *Gripping stuff, Carthew's prose has a startling ferocity * Telegraph *Carthew's writing is breath-takingly fierce, smart and tender * Times Educational Supplement *Natasha writes with a vivid, imagistic language * FInancial Times *Carthew's is a different voice: sinewy and inventive -- Patrick Gale

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Book SynopsisA powerful exposé of Parisian haute couture Book of the Week, Times Higher EducationFashion is one of the most powerful industries in the world, accounting for 6% of global consumption and growing steadily. Since the 1980s and the birth of the neoliberal economy, it has emerged as the glittering face of capitalism, bringing together prestige, power and beauty and occupying a central place in media and consumer fantasies. Yet the fashion industry, which claims to offer highly desirable job opportunities, relies significantly on job instability, not just in outsourced garment production but at the very heart of its creative production of luxury.Based on an in-depth investigation involving stylists, models, designers, hairdressers, make-up artists, photographers and interns, anthropologist Giulia Mensitieri goes behind fashion's glamorous facade to explore the lived realities of working in the industry. This challenging book lays bare the working conditions of the most beautiful jTrade Review[The book's] arguments are compelling. Mensitieri skilfully shows how fashion thrives on its own image of inaccessible glamour: not just selling aspirational fantasy via luxury goods, but also taking advantage of those who produce and help to sell these goods by making them feel “lucky to be here” in this world of dream-making. * British Vogue *Mensitieri’s book is a meticulously researched ethnographic study of the immaterial production of fashion … Although fashion is its main focus, Mensitieri’s book also cleverly turns its critical lens on other fields of supposedly creative endeavour – including academia – where a similarly precarious workforce props up an industry based on constant flexibility, blurred boundaries between work and life, and the promise of a fulfilling career. It is no wonder that it has troubled the French fashion industry. It should. * Times Higher Education *A fascinating insiders’ account of fashion. * Stylist *Expose[s] a culture of exploitation across the industry. * Vogue Business *It’s no secret that the fashion world is only beautiful from a distance. [This book] provides substance and critical context to the truism. The findings are rivetingly awful … Mensitieri’s academic approach and deeper analysis stop the book from simply being a scathing tell-all or a cheap dig at terrible people who have no self-awareness. The point she makes in her wider analysis can just as easily be applied to most of the jobs across all the arts, media and culture sectors. * Bidisha, British broadcaster, critic and journalist *Studded with lucid and chilling vignettes that will stick in your memory, Mensitieri’s book is a remarkable analysis of how creative capitalism persuades people to work for nothing in the glamor industry, and why their poverty is anything but passionate. * Andrew Ross, New York University, USA *A riveting and revelatory expose, The Most Beautiful Job takes us behind-the-scenes of fashion’s phantasmagoria to highlight the precarious, oft-exploited workforce propelling the fashion industry. Mensitieri is a deft researcher, masterful storyteller, and astute critic of contemporary capitalism. Her account is a must-read for anyone interested in the harsh realities of the creative economy. * Brooke Erin Duffy, Cornell University, USA *Marshalling interviews, observations, and history, Mensitieri’s portrayal of the underbelly of Parisian fashion labor delivers a devastating critique of the brutal exploitation behind some of the world’s biggest fashion houses; this is a bold critique of creative jobs under late capitalism. * Ashley Mears, Boston University, USA *Table of ContentsPreface Fashion and the dream Introduction Part I: Fashion and Capitalism: a system for producing the dream 1. Fabricating desire: press and advertising 2. Haute couture, the apotheosis of the dream 3. The circulation of the dream: fashion and globalization Part II: Working in Fashion or “lucky to be there” 4. On the threshold of the dream: the salespeople 5. The greater the prestige, the lower the pay: the rules of the game for fashion workers 6. Prestige and precariousness: symbolic and material geographies 7. At the heart of the dream: the designer-stylists Part III: The dream and those who work in it 8. At work with an up-and-coming fashion designer 9. Knowing how to “be there”: work relationships 10. Getting into fashion, creating a persona, coping in fashion, getting out of fashion Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis groundbreaking investigation into the lives of London's underclass was undertaken by Henry Mayhew in the 1850s. His interviews with street traders, beggars, and thieves results in a work as vivid as a Victorian novel. This new selection includes original illustrations and an illluminating introduction and notes.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition Robert Douglas-Fairhurst has a strong sense of the contradictory forces at work in Mayhew's writing, which he compares successively to a peep show, a collection of dramatic monologues and an early work of sociology...this selection is still as long as a fair-sized novel, with helpful notes and a springy, suggestive introduction that captures the energy and variety of Mayhew's world. * John Bowen, TLS 17/12/2010 *Should be required reading not just for lovers of Dickens, but for anyone who wishes to understand how our nineteenth century truly was. * Simon Heffer, Telegraph 14/01/2011 *superb new edition * Ian Thomson, Evening Standard 02/12/2010 *superb introduction * Michael Dirda, Washington Post 26/01/2011 *some of the best descriptive writing in the English language * Roy Hattersley, New Statesman 18/10/2010 *

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Book SynopsisA searing account of George Orwell''s observations of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over time. His graphically unforgettable descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment are written with unblinking honesty, fury and great humanity. It crystallized the ideas that would be found in Orwell''s later works and novels, and remains a powerful portrait of poverty, injustice and class divisions in Britain.Published with an introduction by Richard Hoggart in Penguin Modern Classics.''It is easy to see why the book created and still creates so sharp an impact ... exceptional immediacy, freshness and vigour, opinionated and bold ... Above all, it is a study of poverty and, behind that, of the strength of class-divisTrade ReviewTrue genius ... all his anger and frustration found their first proper means of expression in Wigan Pier -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *

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Book SynopsisA memoir of searching for home amid Britain’s housing crisis from an exciting new voice in non-fiction Trade Review‘I believe that Kieran Yates was born to write, but crucially, to write this vital piece of work. I tore through the pages . . . A book I’ll read over and over again’ -- Candice Carty-Williams, author of 'Queenie''A beautiful exposition of home and what it means. Yates infuses such gentle care and humanity into the exploration of race, the failings of society and government … Stunning' -- Bolu Babalola, author of 'Love in Colour'‘I read this in two sittings . . . it’s so incisive it’s hard to put down’ -- Pandora Sykes'Wholly transportive and informative. With every home visited, you will leave feeling like a welcomed guest, a deeply concerned neighbour or probably both' -- Clara Amfo'A moving and urgent exposé of the housing crisis' -- Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project'Intimate and fascinating. Both a memoir and a social commentary of Britain' -- Annie Macmanus'Warm and funny. A powerful call to action against bad landlords, gentrification and class inequality in Britain' -- Symeon Brown, author of 'Get Rich or Lie Trying'Vital. Everyone should read it -- Vicky Spratt, author of 'Tenants'‘Skilfully combines memoir, case studies and histories of design with harrowing facts and figures. There’s a sense of humour, too, but deep down a rage that reverberates throughout. Illuminating, thoughtfully written and damning' * Observer *‘A powerful, personal and intricate tour of our housing system … exposing who it works for and who it doesn’t’ -- Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP‘Yates writes with clarity, warmth and passion and leaves the reader wanting to march on Whitehall immediately’ -- Nikesh Shukla‘This book is so special. Kieran writes with warmth and joy . . . manages to have taught me ten million things while also making me fall in love with Kieran and her family - weaving together activism with storytelling in the most gorgeous way’ -- Ione Gamble, author of 'Poor Little Sick Girls'‘Skewers the housing crisis with clear-sighted fury. [Her] warmth and intimacy breathes new life into the horror show statistics. Yates manages the unthinkable: she makes the housing crisis funny, or at least as funny as it can get’ * i *‘So relatable . . . injects a glorious dose of love and joy and hope. This is what is so special about All The Houses I’ve Ever Lived In: the side notes of kindness and community, told with beauty, folded between the pages’ * Big Issue *‘Yates is best when observing detail: the gold-coloured plastic tissue boxes beloved of diasporan Indian households; the houseplants favoured by her fellow millennials; the “anonymous boys in Calvin Klein boxers” in her house-share kitchen . . . symbols of belonging in a disjointed life’ * New Statesman *'This book needs to be pressed into a lot of hands’ -- Joel Golby * UnHerd *'A clarion call for housing justice and a damning indictment of the policy failures of successive governments. But it is also an invitation to consider more imaginative questions about how we should organise not only our housing, but our lives' * Prospect *‘Seething with rage. It is also immensely readable, and at times even funny – something I wouldn’t have thought possible’ * Spectator *'Both a beautifully written, moving memoir and a stufy in how the housing crisis makes and often breaks us' -- Peter Apps, prizewinning author of 'Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen'

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Book SynopsisA Nobel Peace Prize-winner outlines his radical economic vision for a better future. Muhammad Yunus is the economist who invented microcredit, founded Grameen Bank, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards alleviating poverty. Here, he proposes his vision for a new kind of capitalism, where altruism and generosity are valued as much as profit making, and where individuals not only have the capacity to lift themselves out of poverty, but also to affect real change for the planet and its people. A World of Three Zeroes offers a challenge to young people, business and political leaders, and ordinary citizens everywhere to improve the world for everyone before it’s too late.Trade Review‘A book to make Wall Street quake — if Wall Street paid attention to the developing world … The author's humane proposal for economic reform, far from impractical, makes for provocative reading for development specialists.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘The book has a lotto like and Yunus's faith in the entrepreneurial spirit is uplifting. His focus is on communities in developing countries but with lessons for everyone, and a wealth of ideas.’ * In The Black *

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Book SynopsisJeffrey Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University as well as Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. He is internationally renowned for his work as economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa.

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Book SynopsisActive labour market policies aim to assist people not in work into work through a range of interventions including job search, training and in-work support and development. While policies and scholarship predominantly focus on jobseekers' engagement with these initiatives, this book sheds light for the first time on the employer's perspective.

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